I discovered the work of Sheila Hicks during a visit to the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy Andover, MA to experience their exhibit, Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, and I have not been the same since.

I was so moved by her work, the different scale of work, from her miniatures, or as she calls them, minime literally means "very small". These 'studies' lined the hallway leading into the main galleries and I found them mesmerizing.

Now she is going to be in the 2017 Venice Biennale and watching the attached video just made me love Hicks and her work even more. I hope you enjoy the below links and pictures of her work. VF

Here is another woman of whom I did not know much about however now I am mesmerized by her voice, vision and work. Besides being the only woman director to receive the coveted academy award for Best Director, I wanted to feature her during my National Women's History Month's postings because of her assertion that she would like to be thought of and celebrated as a film maker, not a female film maker.
This is an important distinction to think about, especially during this tumultuous time of the women's movement and women's rights. My hope is that women, and men, can follow their passions, make their best contributions to the world, excel, explore and learn, regardless of their gender.
The rub is that women have not always been given that opportunity, so there is a disadvantage ...

There is so much to learn and read about this multitalented woman, so enjoy the below excerpts about Bigelow as well as some articles about her work and the animated short that she directed for her foundation, the Last Days of Ivory. VF

If there's specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can't change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies. It's irrelevant who or what directed a movie, the important thing is that you either respond to it or you don't. There should be more women directing; I think there's just not the awareness that it's really possible. It is. Kathryn Bigelow

Josephine Bake is an amazing woman, so much more than the dancer who wowed Paris in the 20's and preformed in a banana skirt in Paris, which is the image that many get when they hear her name.

Josephine Baker was famous and adored in Paris during the 20's where she 'charleston'ed her way into the hearts of France, but that is just a part of her life story. Born into a poor neighborhood of St. Louis, she started working at 8 years old to help support her mother and her family. She was in and out of schooling, learning more on the street.

When Josephine was 13 years old age married William Wells, which made Josephine his financial responsibility, not her mother's. But that marriage didn't even last a year. Josephine taught herself to sing and dance as a way to earn money and soon moved to New York to pursue a career in entertainment. She made herself known not only with her dancing, but she also had a good comical delivery. From New York she moved her act to Paris where she became a star.

Getty image

When World War II broke out, Josephine signed up to help her adopted country, France. First she worked with the Red Cross. But where she did significant work was as a member of the French Resistance. Because of her fame she traveled all around Europe and Northern Africa to entertain and she was even allowed into enemy territories where she would gather information undetected and then report back to the Allies. She also would delivered secret messages which she would hide within her piles of sheet music. After the war was over, France awarded Baker both the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour with the rosette of the Resistance, two of France’s highest military honors.

With the war behind her she turned her attentions to racism, especially in her native land, the USA. She was appalled that when she was in the US, she was made to enter hotels through the back doors and wasn't even allowed to stay in other hotels because of her skin color. This was especially upsetting since she was welcomed into most any establishment, everywhere else in the world.

She started to protest by not preforming at segregated venues and continued to fight racism until her death. She even stood along side Martin Luther King, Jr in 1963 and spoke during the March on Washington.

Not only did Josephine Baker speak out against racism, but she wanted to demonstrate to the world that all races and all types of people could live together, given the chance. So, beginning in 1950, she started to adopt children from around the world. She ended up adopting 12 and she called her family the 'Rainbow Tribe'.

There are so many facets to this woman's life that I highly recommend you follow the links below so that you can meet the woman beyond the banana skirt. VF

American entertainer Josephine Baker (1906-1936)
often performed onstage in Paris
nightclubs with pet cheetah Chiquita.
Chiquita wore a diamond collar.
Sometimes, during a performance,
Chiquita would decide to jump off the stage
and into the orchestra pit, causing quite a ruckus.
ca. 1931. Courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum.

Doing the research for these posts in honor of National Women's History month blog has introduced me to more amazing and noteworthy women as well as other sites and blogs that celebrate the feminine. Today I discovered this blog and wish to share: femilogue.blogspot.com

my understanding is that this photo was taken during a panel of NY artists who met soon after 9/11

Elizabeth Murray is one of my idols, one of my heroines and a woman who I could write about for days and days.

I had the privilege of experiencing, and one does experience Murray's paintings, during her retrospective at the MOMA, NYC, October 23, 2005–January 6, 2006. Murray's was of the first exhibits in the new and improved MOMA. I have always believed that Murray's was the perfect exhibit to showcase the museum's newly renovated space since many of Murray's paintings are huge and need large enough walls and enough space for viewers to stand back to be able to fully appreciate the work.

I was first drawn to Murray's work because I was curious about who was this woman artist having a retrospective at the MOMA and whose subjects had a domestic feel and whose colors were wild and bright. These were all elements of my paintings on the time and I wanted to study how Murray made these attributes of her work succeed in the contemporary new york art scene. But when I entered the museum's galleries and came face to face with Murray's work my curiosity became utter devotion.

The scale of her work is compelling. I still remember standing in front of some of her towering canvases and literally feeling a physical reaction. I was also enamored with her twisted, morphed and sectional paintings. Note these 3 photos of Murray's work, you can see the progression that her canvases take, from square, flat paintings, to shaped canvases to skeleton-like puzzles of connecting and protruding brightly painted uniquely shaped canvas components (note the dates that these works were created).

I was also drawn to how her paintings were really sculptures. She also has 'sculptures', like her 'Red Shoes' shown below.

"Elizabeth Murray" at the Museum of Modern Art,

installation view, with Don't Be Cruel (1985-86),

left, and Beam (1982) and More Than You Know (1983)

I was interested in the artist Elizabeth Murray because of her subject matter and her colors, but once I started to learn and read about her I became a devotee and I remember so clearly the day that I read in the New York Times that she had died, I felt the loss, for me and the world.

Below you will find quotes, excepts and links to more about Elizabeth Murray. Fortunately there is a good amount to be foundonline. I HIGHLY recommend the art21 episode about Murray. And thanks to doing some research for this post I have discovered that there is a documentary about her, Everyone Knows ... Elizabeth Murray, which I can NOT wait to see. Enjoy! VF

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

With the recent shift in our country's leadership, the women's movement has become louder and more active, which is paramount as the present administration is NO friend of women! In fact the idea that our country elected a chauvinistic, misogynistic, racist, sexist, egomaniac as leader, should put all women on high alert. His campaign alone set Women's Rights back decades, but his election has made Women's Rights an endangered species. Now more than ever, women's accomplishments and milestones need to be taught, celebrated and highlighted. And women and girls need to be supported, defended and assisted in following their dreams and desires. This is why I am sharing women's stories here, on my blog, in honor of National Women History month (March).

As happens with many of my projects, posting these mini biographical posts as a way to celebrate National Women's History month, happened organically. I hadn't planned it, but suddenly it felt paramount for me to share the histories, fates and accomplishments of women, some well known and some not-so well known. I feel that it is so important for the acts and deeds of women to be remembered and honored. And even though in recent years, there is much more written and reported about women in history, there is so much more that needs to be shared.

created by Hannah Hill@hanecote

I have this deep desire to spread the knowledge of women in history because I believe in the strength of teaching through modeling, through example. There is immense power in being able to see yourself in the world, to see people who are like you, in race, in gender, doing the jobs, tasks and careers that you want to do.

I believe in the truth of the above quote by ever-sage Virginia Woolf, that women often had to hide their identity. At the time, women's work was not noteworthy.

This idea rang true for me, that we, girls and women, did not and do not have the access and the knowledge of what women have done before us, what they had achieved and where they had failed. When I thought back on all that I had learned in elementary school, high school and college, it was definitely male-centered biased; the men had the power, made the decisions, won the battles and the women supported them, the nameless women.

"As in many other microcosms, the role of women in the art world has always suffered from the male establishment protecting its territory. Change is so slow and incremental, but often follows other changes in society at large. We are now in a moment to revel in this conversation, which is never big enough, but also bigger than it was."

And the history of women is rich and lush and multi-layered because women are multi-layered, women not only bring to the table brains, ideas, strength, fearlessness and most all of the qualities that men can bring, but women also have the capability to bring life to the table, they can 'procreate'. And women should always have and should remain to have the right for each of them to personally decide if they wish to procreate or not to procreate!!

This month I discovered this 'rad' book about women and I highly recommend it. Each woman's story is told in a page or so, piquing the reader's curiosity so that they could go and learn more about each subject.

But for now, I am sharing these snapshots of women who are doing and have done things, interesting things, important things, quiet things, poetic things, creative things, radical things, brave things, and so many other 'things'.
I share them so that women and girls, and especially my girls, know that they can do ANYTHING that they want to do in life.

It is important that women and girls know
NOT to allow ANYONE to tell them that they can NOT do some 'thing' because they are a woman!

I believe that gender or race should not be the reason that anyone is unable to pursue a career, a dream or a life style.